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England hope to crack their poor batting form in a bid to claw their way back into the NatWest Series against Australia on Wednesday.

The day-night encounter at the Rose Bowl has become a must-win match for Andrew Strauss’ team, who are 2-0 down after twice failing to chase down reasonable targets in London.

Luke Wright

“In an ideal world if you all play well you keep a settled side and that is what the best sides do – they (Australia) have a consistent side where they all know their roles,” said Wright.

So the pressure is on England’s top six to turn in some match-winning innings and buy them all some time together in a side which has to compete against the Australians – and at the Champions Trophy – without injured stars Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen.

“You only get consistency if you’re performing well,” said all-rounder Luke Wright. “No-one can expect to not score runs and then stay in the side. But no-one can expect a free ticket to stay in if you’re not performing.”

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England failed to employ the powerplay properly in the 39-run defeat at Lord’s last Sunday due to the fall of regular wickets, but the trend of waiting for the end of the innings for the five-over slot is set to continue.

“The way we were going to use it would have been fine,” said Wright. “It is down to the players to be in there at the right times.

“It would have been fine if we had been at the end, it would have worked perfectly, so there is a responsibility to make sure we do it.

“You can easily lose two or three wickets in that powerplay going for it, so if you are five or six down it means you can be soon eight down. You are trying to leave it so that you can go hard in those overs and not get bowled out.”

England will be without Stuart Broad, resting after straining his neck in the opening game, and Joe Denly, who is recovering from a knee injury.